Makale

Late drama and sustained Ronaldo magic - Real Madrid´s road to the Champions League final

22 Mayıs 2018 09:00

Real Madrid have made the Champions League their own over the past four seasons – winning it three times – but they have had to reach this weekend's final the hard way.

Zinedine Zidane's side face Liverpool in Kiev on Saturday knowing there have been several occasions in this season's campaign that could easily have resulted in them being dumped out.

However, thanks to the unrelenting brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo – who is aiming to become the first player to win five Champions League titles – they are within touching distance of a third consecutive title, a feat that has not been achieved since 1976 when Bayern Munich did so.

Madrid's road to the final has shown that scoring goals is not a problem for the Spanish side, but will their defence be able to keep Mohamed Salah and his team-mates at bay?

In a group containing Tottenham and Borussia Dortmund, there were no guarantees that Madrid would advance to the knock-out stages. While Spurs stormed through as group winners with 16 points, a disappointing campaign from the Germans meant that Zidane's side cruised through in second place with 13 points – a whopping 11 ahead of Dortmund. Their biggest win was against Cypriot outfit APOEL, Ronaldo and Karim Benzema helping themselves to braces in a 6-0 thumping.